Building Agro Industries! Philippines Imports Yearly P500-M Worth Of Langka

One of the first things I did when I assumed as Agriculture Secretary in 2016 was to ask DA officials to submit a list of agricultural items which the country was importing.
Shocking ang nakita ko na listahan kasi hindi lang high value vegetables ang ini-import ng Pilipinas.
Mungbeans or Mongo, Peanuts and Jackfruit were included in the list of agricultural products imported by the Philippines.
In fact, every year, an estimated P500-M worth of Jackfruit is imported from countries such as Thailand and Vietnam.
We could very well grow Langka pero ang problema natin sa Pilipinas ay ang ating backyard farming mentality.
The idea of developing crops such as Langka to become a major industry has not really entered the consciousness of our agricultural planners.
Kuntento na tayo sa dalawang puno ng Lanzones, tatlong puno ng Avocado at apat na puno ng Langka.
Those who had a deeper understanding of the need to produce volume or develop an industry made it big.
One of those is a Cotabato-based doctor/farmer Fred Villarico who planted wide areas to Mangosteen and developed a processed product “Dr. Alfred’s Mangosteen Capsules and Tea.”
Today, Dr. Villarico expanded his Mangosteen plantation in Palawan.
In 2018, after planting about 500 seedlings of the Abuyog Sweet Langka variety developed by the Department of Agriculture Eastern Visayas Agricultural Research Institute and the Visayas State University, I started promoting the planting of Langka nationwide.
I have continued that advocacy today, including the planting of Hass Avocado and Giant Bamboo in the denuded highlands of Mindanao, especially when I moved from the DA to the Mindanao Development Authority.
Ang kagandahan sa Abuyog Sweet Jackfruit, outstanding ang growth performance nito even in high elevation of up to 1,400-meters-above-sea-level (MASL).
Today, back in my farm, I have continued propagating the Abuyog Sweet Jackfruit and many of the seedlings I produced were shared nationwide as part of my Green Philippines Advocacy.
This year, my farm nursery is targeting to produce 100,000 grafted seedlings of Abuyog Sweet Langka, along with a still unspecified number of Hass Avocado and Giant Bamboo planting materials.
This time around, however, hindi na libre ang mga seedlings because I also have to pay my workers and, of course, hanapbuhay din tayo para sa pamilya. 😃
#CreatingAgriIndustries!
#KungGustoMaramingParaan!